


My Sister's Still Young (I Hate to See Her Face Blue)

by mixtapesandsunsets



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Good Relationship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Not Incest, Past Abuse, Sibling Love, a little swearing, finding happiness, just max & billy sibling love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:20:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21949477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapesandsunsets/pseuds/mixtapesandsunsets
Summary: To her surprise, Billy smiled. “I’m getting us out of here, Max. To somewhere we’ll be safe. We never have to come back here if you don’t want to.”Max prodded the sore area of her ribs where a fresh bruise was blooming. “Yeah,” she breathed. “Yeah, that sounds great. When are we leaving?”
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield
Comments: 3
Kudos: 55





	My Sister's Still Young (I Hate to See Her Face Blue)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "This Was a Home Once" by Bad Suns.
> 
> TW: direct mentions of physical abuse.

Max laughed loudly at something Billy said, nearly choking on the slurpee she was drinking. Billy patted her firmly in the middle of her back, but as soon as his hand made contact she yelped and lurched forward, dropping her slurpee. It exploded outward, spraying the ground with red. 

Billy’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t think I hit you that hard!”

Max shook her head, trying to look nonchalant. “No, it’s okay, I’m just a little sore.” Her lips suddenly tightened into a thin line as if she realized that she had said something she shouldn’t have.

“Sore from what?”

“Nothing. I don’t know.”

Billy kneeled down, looking up at her. “Max. You can tell me if something is wrong.”

“Nothing is wrong!”

Suddenly, his eyes widened again and his breath caught. It felt like his stomach had moved up into his throat. 

“Max. Did Neil hurt you?”

Max’s lip wobbled. If Billy hadn’t known something was wrong before, he would have now. In the 5 years of being Max’s step-brother, he had never once seen her cry. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry Billy, you weren’t supposed to know! Now he’ll hurt you too!”

Billy took her hands. “Max no, no, I’m sorry. I can’t believe I didn’t realize. How long has this been happening?”

Max squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “Max. How long?”

“Almost a year.” Max whispered, turning her face away.

Billy felt like sobbing. “Max, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry I let him hurt you too. He was never supposed to hurt you, he always promised he wouldn’t.”

Max turned her face to him sharply, her blue eyes bright with unshed tears. “He hurts you too?”

Billy hung his head, sighing. “It feels like he always has. Almost as long as I can remember.”

“Oh, Billy, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Max.  _ I’m  _ sorry. I’ll figure out how to fix this, okay?”

Max smiled sadly. She knew her brother meant well, but there was no way to stop Neil. “Okay, Billy.”

Billy sighed, standing up. He reached out and set his hand on her shoulder, gently this time, just in case. “Come on, Maxie. Let’s get you a new slurpee.”

\-----

It was only three days later when Billy snuck into her room at night as Neil and Connie slept. 

He touched her shoulder gently. “Max, wake up,” he whispered.

She jumped up, scrabbling back against the wall, hands in front of herself in defense. “Hey, hey, it’s just me. I’m sorry.”

Max took a shaky breath in, shaking her head as if to clear it. “It’s okay. What’s wrong?”

To her surprise, Billy smiled. “I’m getting us out of here, Max. To somewhere we’ll be safe. We never have to come back here if you don’t want to.”

Max prodded the sore area of her ribs where a fresh bruise was blooming. “Yeah,” she breathed. “Yeah, that sounds great. When are we leaving?”

“Thursday night. Pack everything you will need, and everything you’ll want to take. We won’t be able to get it back otherwise. But make sure that you don’t make it obvious that you’re packing up, okay? We don’t want anyone catching on.”

Max nodded, face gravely serious.

“Okay. After school tomorrow, I’ll pick you up like I always do but then we are going to the old closed-down elementary school, okay? I’m going to teach you how to drive.”

Despite herself, Max was excited. She grinned. “Yeah, okay! Does this mean I get to drive your car?” 

Billy tried to glare at her, but failed and laughed softly. “Yeah, yeah, but only because I need you to drive us as part of my super cool escape plan. You crash the car, you’re dead.”

Max stuck her tongue out at him. “Whatever, nerd.”

\-----

Over the next 3 days, Billy continued to execute his plan. He pulled all of the money out of his bank account, and the next day took Max to pull out all of her’s. He bought snacks and water and stuffed them in his trunk, hiding them under the emergency blanket he kept in there anyways. He bought 3 gas cans and filled them, and hid those in the back of the trunk too. He also packed medicine, bandages, and anything else he could think of that they might need. 

The day they were due to leave, he met with one of the other boys from his school behind the bleachers at the football stadium. He handed the boy $250 in cash and he was handed 2 driver’s licenses and 2 birth certificates. His new license claimed he was 19, and Max’s claimed she was 16. At 16 and 13, they were going to be pushing it, but they could do it. They had to do it. 

At one a.m. sharp, Billy stood outside Max’s bedroom and carefully took all of the things she was handing him, setting them next to him as he went. Two suitcases, a pillow and blanket, and finally her skateboard. Next, he took her hand and helped her climb out. She grabbed one suitcase and her skateboard, and he grabbed the other and the bedding, and they went and threw it in the backseat of his car. Then they jogged back and grabbed the things sitting outside his window, and packed those in too. They climbed in the car just as the porch light flicked on. 

“Shit!” Billy cursed. “Hurry Max, get in and lock the door!” Neil and Connie stood in the doorway, Neil holding a shotgun. Billy turned the car on and put it in reverse. 

“Get back here you pieces of shit! Where do you think you’re gonna go, huh? You’re nothing! Nothing!” He pumped the shotgun and aimed it at the car, which was accelerating out of the driveway so quickly the tires were squealing. Their faces tight with fear, Billy and Max ducked as a shot rang out, flying past the car. Finally out of the driveway, Billy turned the wheel and slammed the car into drive, and the two were flung forward momentarily before they sped away. The last they saw of Neil was him standing, shotgun in hand, under the streetlight of the home that they had lived in for the past 5 years. The home where they became a family. But those people that were in the driveway now, they weren’t their family. Billy and Max were family. 

Despite the fear still rolling in his stomach, Billy laughed. Max looked over at him, eyes wide, and suddenly she was laughing too. As they flew through their little California town, past the diner where they had first been introduced, they laughed so hard that it was all Billy could do to stay on the road, struggling to see past the tears in his eyes. 

Finally, on the edge of town, they calmed. “We did it, Maxie. We did it.” 

Max sighed, still smiling but beginning to feel the anxiety of not knowing what happens next crawling up her chest. “What are we going to do now, Billy?”

“We’re going far, far away from here. We’re gonna find someone who will rent to two poor orphans just trying to make a better life for themselves. I’m gonna find a job, you’re gonna go to school, and we’re gonna be safe. We’re gonna be happy.”

Max bit her lip. “That sounds nice. Where are we going?”

“I don’t know. I think we’ll know when we get there.”

\-----

Three days later, Billy signed a lease on a little two-bedroom house in a quiet neighborhood in Hawkins, Indiana. They filled it with furniture they found on the curb or got for cheap at second hand stores. Billy got a job as a lifeguard at the indoor pool, working almost full-time. Max went to school and found herself seamlessly absorbed into a group of friends. They taught her to play Dungeons & Dragons and would come to their place and eat store-brand mac and cheese off of their chipped plates, never seeming bothered that none of them matched. After awhile, Billy met some of their older siblings and made fast friends with them and some of their other friends. They helped him remember that he was allowed to have a life outside of working and taking care of Max; that he deserved to be normal sometimes.

On Friday nights, everyone would come over and watch a movie, often falling asleep in a heap on their floor or their couch, covered by their moth-eaten throw blankets.

They fought sometimes. Of course they did. But at the end of it, they always apologized. They always reminded themselves and each other how they got here, and why.

Their home was filled with love and light, and most of the time, Billy and Max were unbelievably happy. Happier than they had ever thought they could be. Once in awhile, they talked about their past. Mostly, they talked about the present or the future. 

“I think I want to be a videogame designer”, Max told him over dinner one night. She seemed almost nervous, as if she was afraid he would laugh at her. 

Billy just smiled. “You’ll be great, Mad Max. Let’s look into how you can do that this weekend, I bet there are classes you can take or books you can read or something.”

Max’s face split into a wide grin, and her fork clattered to the table as she flew over to hug him. “Thank you, Billy.”

Billy hugged her back. “Of course. Anything you do, you’ll be amazing. I better be your first beta tester though. Having an annoying genius of a little sister should come with the bonus of being the first to play the best new games, right?”

Max mock punched his arm, laughing. “Sure, loser. You probably won’t even be able to figure out how to play.”

Billy gasped, putting his hands on his hips. “Listen, brat, just because I don’t understand Drumrolls and Dragsters doesn’t mean I can’t figure out a video game.”

Max threw her head back, leaning on the table for support as she laughed. Billy grinned. 

Sometimes he still woke up from a nightmare sweating and raising his hands to protect his face, and if he imagined hard enough he could feel the phantom bruises all over his body. 

Watching Max like this, though? Happy, free? He would go through it again, relive all the pain and suffering that he had felt in his life if it meant that Max could have this. That  _ they _ could have this, together. Their own little paradise in a boring Midwestern town.


End file.
